3 Tips To Increasing A Child’s Frustration Tolerance

Frustrated kids can be hard to manage and hard on our sanity. I have had days where I did everything possible to reduce any frustrating experiences for my child, wincing at the first sign of an oncoming tantrum.

It turns out that if we are trying to control our children’s environment so they don’t get angry, we aren’t teaching them how to be angry, or how to increase their frustration tolerance. We also aren’t increasing our own frustration tolerance or emotion regulation skills if we become afraid of anger. We need to guide our children through the frustration, not away from it so they aren’t conflict avoiders when they become adults.

The first tip in understanding frustration tolerance is to pay attention to what we tell ourselves. When we are aware of our glass-half-empty or glass-half-full thinking, we can take action to change our thoughts.

One of our roles as parents is to influence our child’s self-talk with positive statements. I love this quote, “Be careful how you speak to your children, one day it will become their inner voice.” -Peggy O’Mara

When things get hard, we want our children to be able to talk themselves through it. So, the first way to grow frustration tolerance in your children is actually to notice how you respond when you are impatient, overwhelmed, upset or “annoyed.” Your reaction to these situations is going to greatly influence how your children handle the same experiences. What are you telling yourself? Do you have rational or irrational beliefs? Are you rude or friendly? Do you make a sour face?

Here are some common negative statements (irrational beliefs) and the positive ones (rational beliefs) that can challenge the negative ones. When we keep challenging our old, automatic unhelpful beliefs, we actually start to really believe the positive ones. With time and practice, these new beliefs will become the automatic messages playing in our minds.

1) – “I can’t handle this.”

+ “This is rough, but I can do it.” You will not die or lose your mind if something breaks, you have to wait, you can’t find something, or things don’t turn out the way you want. Choose to be calm. Tell yourself to take a breath and try again, ask for help, or find a different way. Accept when something is really hard. Deal with the reality of the situation you are in, problem solve and focus on the options you DO have, not the ones you do not.

2) – “I should always be happy.”

+ “Happiness, sadness, fear, and anger are all part of a normal life.” When we learn to express all our emotions, they can be processed so we can move on. Sometimes when people are focused on being happy, all the ignoring of their anger turns them miserable in the end. If you would like to read more about this, I recommend the book Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids by Laura Markham, PhD.

3) – “I can’t wait.”

+ “Waiting is okay.” If you are in a situation where you really can’t wait, leave and plan to come back. If you don’t want to wait, ask yourself what you could do to make the waiting okay. Take some time to have full, slow breaths or be thankful to have a moment of rest.

4) – “Things don’t go my way. This always happens!”

+ “Things do happen. That’s okay; I can handle it.” People will continually experience challenges. I have learned to be thankful for my challenges because they usually end up teaching me something valuable in the end. Shift away from victim language to capable language. “Yup, tough things happen. It’s a good thing I have people around me to help, or that I will figure out what to do.”

5) – “I hate being frustrated. I will avoid it at all costs.”

+ “How can I plan to reduce frustrating situations?” Thinking ahead to plan a route with less traffic, or making sure you have enough water and snacks for the day are examples of mitigating frustration that is within your control. When the frustration is not in your control, accept it, surrender to it, and think. Take a moment to regroup and ask yourself what you need to do to get through this situation.

6) – “I don’t have time for this crap!!!”

+ “I need more rest and to schedule better. Am I getting enough fun?” Consider what you can do to increase your rest time.

7) – “People are always annoying me.”

+ “I didn’t like what she did but I’m not going to let her ruin my day.” We do not have control over other people, but we do have control over how we react to them. We also have control of our thoughts and can choose to stop thinking about or talking about a negative situation. Accept the real emotion you are feeling instead of “annoyed.” Is it anger? Sadness? Substitute a different word for “annoyed” and just sit with how you really feel.

+ “I need to find a way to get all this junk out of me.” When we model avoidance of feelings, we may inadvertently lead our children down the addictions road. This article is not about coping strategies, as many entire books have been written on just this subject. Please notice if you are saying or doing these kinds of things, and seek out a book or helper so you can learn how to feel rather than avoid.

Once you have the language to instill positive self-talk in your children, use these words repeatedly. When you see your child melting down, infuse him with empathy and positive messages.

The second tip in teaching frustration tolerance is to not give in to your child’s unreasonable request just to avoid him or her experiencing anger. If you need to say “no” to having a third cookie, do it calmly, with empathy, and firmness. “You are not having three cookies. Having a third cookie hurts our body. Sweetie, I’m sorry this is hard. I’m here to help you until your anger is all the way out.” Let your child be angry and remember to stay calm. I actually created an app called Taming Tantrums (for iPhone & Android) that includes these phrases and others ones that help us keep our cool when our children are upset.

The third tip is to use a mantra each time your child (or you!) is frustrated and ready to blow. Using the same words each time there is upset will train the brain to remember these when the “back-brain”/ reptilian mind/ fight-or-flight reaction is activated.

This is the mantra I recommend and use with my children:

I see you are frustrated (or angry), do you need:

A BREAK, to TRY AGAIN, or SOME HELP?

If you would like more strategies for handling challenging parenting moments, I invite you to check out my Taming Tantrums app(links above) and join the positive parenting community over on my Facebook page.

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[…] Removing harsh discipline does not mean becoming a parenting doormat. It means using firm and friendly practices to teach and guide your children. Children need to be taught calm-down strategies, straightforward communication, emotional awareness, empathy, routines, and how to manage frustration. […]

Andrea Loewen Nair is a counsellor, parenting educator and international media parenting expert based in London, Ontario, Canada. Her therapy background helps parents to understand at a deeper level what to do when kids drift away, behaviour goes wild, buttons are pushed and old negative self-talk gets too loud.

Her goal is to let parents know they are not alone in their struggles and to provide practical help that makes big positive changes. Parenting can be very hard—and Andrea wants to help.